Pierre-Andre RENAUD DIT LOCAS

Leucate is a Mediterranean sea port about halfway between Narbonne and Perpignan. All sources say he was born there, and that is the source of his dit name.

FRancogene site insists he was born at Boujan-sur-Libron (Hérault : 340037), in Herault.Boujan-sur-Libron is near the coast of Languedoc, about the same distance northeast of Narbonne that Leucate is south of Narbonne. The two towns are a good 50 miles apart.

From Pierre Renaud, e-mail (information on this line is also from him)

Pierre-André Renaud took the name Locat by distortion (bad pronunciation) of the name of the locality he was originated, Leucate, a Mediterranean sea port about halfway between Narbonne and Perpignan.The form of the name: Renaud _dit_ Locat is equivalent to Renaud _said_ (AKA) Locat.The name Leucate varied from Leaucat (1709) to Laucatte (1753) and Locquat as used in Pierre-André's marriage contract (1669). Leucate became Locat, then Locas, then Lacas. I have seen Laucas too (au = o in French). Pierre-André was a soldier and it was general practice among soldiers to take a nickname, sometimes their place of origin, a geographic feature, a trade.Pierre-André was a soldier in the Carignan-Salières regiment, Granfontaine company. This regiment was sent from France in 1665 specially to tame the Iroquois Indians who were raiding the French colony in the St-Laurent valley. After a succesfull campaign the soldiers and officers were offered land if they wished to stay in the colony. This was to increase the occupation of the territory quite a bit and provide military protection through the militia.Usually the officers were granted a large piece of land (seigneury or fief) that they could divide into lots of 20 X 3 to 30 by 4 arpents (about 45 to 90 acres) or more depending on the localization, quality of soil, etc. Many soldiers followed their officers in the venture and established on those lots.

Their son Pierre was traveling for fur trade (voyageur) and married in 1739 in Michilimakinac, now in Michigan, and lived in Illinois where he had is family and married again in 1773.

The notes Pierre sent me had a third son Pierre, with an odd parenthetical name.

Renaud dit locas (renoche), pierreb 1699-12-2bapt 1699-12-20 Grondines then a different spouse. I suppose he must have married twice.Most of other descendants established in Montreal area and a few migrated to the USA.That is the story about Pierre-André Renaud dit Locat.

http://www.fillesduroi.org/Regiment/regiment.html:

The Carignan-Salières Regiment

The pleas of the colonists of New France for assistance in their struggle with the Iroquois were answered in 1665 with the arrival of the first French regular troops in Canada, the Carignan-Salières Regiment. Between June and September 1665, some 1200 soldiers and their officers arrived in Quebec, under the leadership of Lt. General Alexander de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy.

The series of forts established by the Regiment along the Richelieu River, along with the success of its second campaign into the land of the Mohawk Indians, led to a long period of peace for the colony, which permitted it to prosper. However, King Louis XIV's plan included the permanent settlement of many of the soldiers and officers in Canada. Over 450 of these troops remained in the colony, many of whom married the newly arrived filles du roi.

Most persons of French Canadian descent can claim one or more of these brave soldiers as ancestors. In addition to the list of soldiers and officers on the official "roll" of the Regiment, there were many others who participated in the successful campaign against the Iroquois, including many militiamen who resided in the colony but whose names were not recorded for posterity.

The king had another assignment for his troops in Canada - one that had been conceived before their departure but kept secret until the end of hostilities. New France was only thinly populated. In order to rectify this situation, the king hoped to encourage the soldiers of the 24 companies "to remain in the country" by providing them with the means "to establish themselves there." Accordingly, the officers were offered seigneuries. This was most attractive, because to own a tract of land, that is, to become a seigneur, was almost impossible in France. Some 30 officers therefore took up this offer in 1667 and 1668. The titles to most of the new seigneuries were officially turned over to the new proprietors five years later. Some bore the names of their new title holders. Thus the present towns of Berthier, Chambly, Contrecoeur, Boisbriand, Saint-Ours and Sorel commemorate the first seigneurs of those localities, former captains in the Carignan-Salières Regiment. Lavaltrie, Soulanges and Varennes bear the names of former lieutenants, while Brucy and Verchères were ensigns who also left their mark on place names in Quebec.Ordinary soldiers were also given numerous inducements to stay. Instead of returning to France, possibly to live as serfs, they could own land and establish themselves on it with substantial state assistance in the form of livestock and food. What could be more appealing? Four hundred and four soldiers and 12 sergeants allowed themselves to be persuaded. In France itself, the feeling of confidence engendered by the vigorous action of the king's soldiers certainly seems to have encouraged emigration, for, at about this time, more than 2,000 people decided to leave for Canada. With this considerable influx, the population of New France doubled between 1665 and 1672, rising to 7,000.These steps did not result in the complete dissolution of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. The two colonels' companies returned to France with Colonel de Salières in June 1668, and the regiment again began recruitment there.

Pierre-Andre married M.-Francoise DESPORTES on 5 Nov 1669. (M.-Francoise DESPORTES was born about 1652 in St-Nicolas-des-Champs, Paris, Ile de France, France.)